Video Game Collector’s Editions That Weren’t Worth the Money
Final Fantasy XV Ultimate Collector’s Edition
Uncovered: Final Fantasy XV was an event jam-packed with cool announcements. There was the film, anime series, release date (which ended up not being met), and a super-duper expensive Ultimate Collector’s Edition for Final Fantasy XV.
The Final Fantasy XV Ultimate Collector’s Edition represents just how insanely expensive these things can get, setting fans back a whopping $270. That’s a lot of cash to drop on one game.
What you got for your hundreds was nice and all: physical copies of the anime and movie, a soundtrack CD, and a Play Arts Kai statue of Noctis. Certainly, a nice selection of goodies that would all add up if bought individually. But to $270? I don’t think so.
A big and very valid complaint was that it didn’t come with the recently announced Season Pass, which would set you back another $25. Including this would have somewhat helped justify the hefty price tag a little more —and Square Enix would later fix this in the Dissidia Final Fantasy NT Ultimate Collector’s Edition.
Video Game Collector’s Editions That Weren’t Worth the Money
Any Skylanders Dark Edition
The Dark Editions of the Skylanders games were an excellent business decision for Activision as the only purpose of them was to bait collectors into spending more money. Want to collect all of the figures? Gotta cough up for those Dark Editions, baby.
Many Skylanders games had a Dark Edition variant for the Starter Packs. Literally, the only difference with them was that the figures were dark. Did it cost Activision any more to make? No. Will it cost you more to buy? Oh, you know it.
The instance that got me was Skylanders: Superchargers for Wii and Wii U. These versions came with Donkey Kong and Bowser figures, respectively, which doubled-up as amiibo figures. As an amiibo collector at the time, I had to have these variants. That was a sad, expensive day.
Video Game Collector’s Editions That Weren’t Worth the Money
Hyrule Warriors Limited Edition
There were a number of different Nintendo collector’s editions for Wii U games; pretty much every first party game had a big box set. A majority of these collector’s editions following the release of Super Smash Bros. for Wii U included amiibo figures, but Nintendo had to come up with something to put in the ones that came before that.
For Mario Kart 8, this was a cool spiny shell figure that you could easily display. The spiny shell has been stealing people’s victories since 1996, so it makes sense to include something as iconic as that in a collector’s edition.
For Hyrule Warriors, you get Link’s scarf. Now, Link’s not really known for wearing a scarf, considering he never has before this game or since. It’s not quite a piece that you can easily display like a statue or figure, either.
Sure, you could wear the scarf, but then you could end up misplacing it outside of your house. Then that big box sitting at home just becomes a big of a waste of space.
Video Game Collector’s Editions That Weren’t Worth the Money
Mass Effect 3 N7 Collector’s Edition
For some people, Mass Effect 3 was a disappointment, and some folks were disappointed as early as the game showing up at their door on release day.
The Mass Effect 3 N7 Collector’s Edition was pretty lackluster. A good, standard collector’s edition usually nets you a soundtrack, art book, and some other small bonus, and the Mass Effect 3 N7 Collector’s Edition is as standard as they come. Too bad it isn’t any good.
It definitely has the 70-page art book that was promised, albeit with very small pages only showing one or two images per page. But unfortunately, the soundtrack is digital-only, because god forbid EA should give you anything tangible for the money that you’ve spent.
Then there’s the bonus lithograph, which could have just as easily been included in the art book, as well as the small N7 patch.
Hopefully, you weren’t one of the people who ponied up $80 at launch as you can get it for around $10 now. If you want it, that is.
Video Game Collector’s Editions That Weren’t Worth the Money
World of Final Fantasy Collector’s Edition
Don’t get me wrong, the contents that you get with the World of Final Fantasy Collector’s Edition is pretty good: three cute chibi figures of Cloud, Squall, and Lightning; a physical soundtrack CD, and a large art book showing off the game’s charming art direction.
The problem is that all of the contents is encased in this large, heavy, pop-up book. That was actually one of the selling points that made me pre-order my copy, but it just doesn’t function as it should. All of the pages stick together, and I feel that if I look at it the wrong way it’s just going to crumble and fall apart.
It sounded as though the pop-up book was going to be its own book —not the actual packaging. Getting to the bottom section to get to the cool contents is a huge pain.
Rayman Origins’s collector’s edition also had a pop-up book that doubled as the packaging, and it’s just as atrocious. Please, game companies, a pop-up book sounds like an excellent addition to a collector’s edition, but make sure that it’s an actual book.
Video Game Collector’s Editions That Weren’t Worth the Money
Resident Evil 6 Premium Edition
I’m willing to bet my Skylanders Superchargers Dark Editions that no one reading this picked up the Resident Evil 6 Premium Edition. The first reason being that it was exclusive to Japan, and the second being that it is one of the most expensive collector’s editions ever created coming in at just over $1000.
Surely there’s nothing that they could possibly include to make it worth over a grand. Well, that’s exactly how the story went.
With the Premium Edition, you get the game, four tablet covers based on the four playable characters and, the centerpiece of it all, your very own Leon. S Kennedy jacket.
PSA: Don’t spend over $1000 on a jacket. It won’t make you as cool as Leon, it’ll just make you $1000 lighter.
Video Game Collector’s Editions That Weren’t Worth the Money
Halo Reach Limited Edition
Some collector’s editions are just beyond the price that some people are willing to spend, so publishers also release a middle-of-the-road option. In Halo Reach’s case, this was the Limited Edition. If you weren’t shelling out for the Legendary Edition that included a statue of Noble Team, there was really nothing in the Limited Edition that warranted the purchase.
It’s a big box of crap, there’s no other way to put it. $80 worth of crap. Amazon states that it includes “Dr. Halsey’s personal journal and other classified documents.” In reality, it’s all just a bunch of useless scrap paper that is just going to sit in the box until it rots.
Video Game Collector’s Editions That Weren’t Worth the Money
Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite Collector’s Edition
In theory, the Marvel vs. Capcom Collector’s Edition could have been one of the cooler collector’s editions for modern systems. Along with the game, we were supposed to receive four awesome diorama statues of Marvel and Capcom icons Iron Man, Captain Marvel, Chun-Li and X as well as “6 infinity stones in a decorative case.”
In practice, it was a huge disappointment. The statues were decent enough minus Chun-Li’s face, but the real stinker here is the “infinity stones.” What was initially shown to be well-detailed, light-up jewels was just a bunch of colorful eggs in reality. This edition cost $200.
Worse yet, in the UK, the collector’s edition doesn’t even come with the game. You’re paying £100 solely for a few cheap figures and some happy meal toy-looking eggs. It’s like Capcom were just pushing people to buy Tekken 7.
About the author
